Ven Vinder's page

After buying dinner at the Rusty Dragon and paying with his new gold coin, Mitnal spends a long time staring at the change in his hand. Finally, with sudden determination he stands and marches down to the General Store. Takes a deep breath as Father Idnag taught him to do when he felt his temper rising and enters with a smile.

Ven Vinder, standing behind the counter looks up at the door with a smile when he hears it open. When he sees that it is the Shoanti basket weaver standing in his door, his smile turns to surprise.

Growing up, Mitnal, there was another young man in your tribe, slightly older than you, named Zevtek. As long as you'd known him he'd always been much larger than the other kids his age, tall, stocky, and seemingly made of muscle. On top of that, he had something of a bad disposition, quite a bit of a mean streak. All of the other children of the tribe (and some adults who were smaller than he) were terrified of him, and would run at his approach. Unfortunately, Zevtek could move as quietly as a field mouse when he wanted to, and was aware of people's fear of him, and used those facts to his own advantage.

Zevtek was also a little... off. He would do crazy things no sane person would ever do. Like hide in a tree, waiting for the largest buck he could find to wander under him. He always knew where the big bucks liked to graze. Once the buck had stopped for a bite, Zevtek would drop out of the tree on to the buck's back and grab ahold of its antlers. The startled and terrified animal would try to bolt and dislodge its rider simultaneously, but Zevtek had a grip like steel manacles. As the deer ran, Zevtek would twist its head around by the antlers until its neck snapped. You watched him do it once.

The look on the deers face right before Zevtek killed it is the look Ven Vinder wears now.

Taking his 23 silver pieces out of his pocket, he goes over and leans in close and cospiratorily: "How many of these little silver ones does it take to buy a gold?" he asks.

His face flushes and he swallows. You think he is shaking a little.

"Ten," he says, in a dry, quiet voice.

"Ten silver is too little. They are worth a gold piece at least!" says Mitnal trying to control his temper.

Ven gets a queer look on his face for a moment, as if he had somehow suddenly found himself transported to the peak of a mountain and was trying to puzzle out how he'd gotten there, then his eyes pop open in surprise as he'd been snatched back to the store just as quick.

"A gold? A gold! Surely you are trying to drive me to the poorhouse! You are unscrupulous, sir, unscrupulous."

He pauses, shaking his head.

"Fine. Done. I'll take your baskets for a gold and hope my good wife doesn't put me out on the street for such frivolous spending." He fishes around in a pouch and pulls out a single gold piece. "You drive a hard bargain, friend. A hard bargain indeed. Perhaps we can commerce again in the future, though I cannot imagine how I will stay in business."

"These are indeed fine quality baskets, my friend. Unfortunately, I already have a stock of quality baskets from Korvosa. Still, I suppose I could suppliment my stock with some locally made goods. I'll offer you ten silver for the lot of them."

Mitnal wrote:

Mitnal, Jessa, and The Raven say their goodbyes and head across the street to the general store ...

... and they approach the store very, very slowly. :-)

The general store is well stocked, and several other townfolk and merchants are in the store as well.

A man greets you as you enter.

"Welcome, friends. How can I... Oh!" He catches sight of Blackwing. "Hmm... I'm normally not fond of animals in my store, but I'd hate to drive away potential new customers. As long as your bird is tame and well behaved, please enter. However, I must insist that anything he breaks or damages be purchased by you in the condition he puts it in."

His mind seems to wander a moment.

"Oh, I'm sorry, what were you saying?"